NOC Executive Director, Professor Ed Hill, commented, “The NOC is delighted to become a member of the World Ocean Council. We share the same aim of ensuring the sustainable use of the marine environment by the businesses active in the maritime space. With the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development predicting that the blue economy will more than double its contribution to global value added, reaching over $3 trillion by 2030, strong growth is expected.

“A key part of the mission of the NOC is to engage with businesses and governments to ensure the best available scientific evidence is able to inform investment and operational decisions and we look forward to engaging with a wide section of marine industries through the WOC”.

WOC CEO, Paul Holthus, said “We are honoured to have the National Oceanography Centre come on board. Good science, data and ocean observations are fundamental to addressing the environmental challenges of the growing ocean economy. We encourage other research, science and academic institutions to get involved in the WOC as a way to collaborate in advancing science-based ocean sustainable development through our unique global ocean leadership alliance”.